In May, Caryl Capeci, then president of Hearts On Fire, was promoted to CEO of Chow Tai Fook North America, the newly established Boston-based arm of the Chinese conglomerate that purchased Hearts On Fire in 2014. In September, Capeci spoke to JCK at Hearts On Fire University, the brand’s biennial education event.
Why has Chow Tai Fook set up its North American hub?
In the five years since buying Hearts On Fire, Chow Tai Fook has learned a lot about the American market. We see a tremendous opportunity in building the North American market and going beyond Hearts On Fire and [sister brand] Mémoire. When you look at the typical jewelry store, there is still an enormous amount of their jewelry case that is not branded higher-end diamonds. There is still a lot of generic diamond product. We can provide them that. And eventually, we will look to colored stones and some of the other